Monday, December 9, 2013

Speechless (Originally published December 2009)

I enjoy the gaiety of the Christmas season as much as the next
person, but I have to admit I'm finding it harder and harder to keep a
reflective spirit this time of year.

Radio stations, in
an effort to spread "holiday cheer," play so-called Christmas music
round-the-clock. But, how many of these songs have anything to do with
the birth of our Savior? How many of them speak of joy and good cheer
but don't point listeners to the only Source of lasting joy? We hear of
good tidings to men, but do we reflect on just how good the news really
is?

While there's nothing wrong with "Frosty the
Snowman" or "Jingle Bell Rock," I find myself thinking that we have let
the pendulum swing way too far with the holiday songs and not far enough
with the sacred.

One of my favorite things about our
church in Georgia is the music. The wealth of timeless songs with deep,
spiritually reflective lyrics. One of my favorite Christmas hymns that
I just learned last year is Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence. (Click the link to hear the beautiful melody.)

Based
on Habakkuk 2:20, the words to this song were originally penned in the
4th century. (It was translated into English 1500 years later.)

I
need the reminder that we are marking the birth of a sovereign God, and
this is no trivial event. In fact, if we had any comprehension, any
true understanding of what this means, it would render us speechless.

Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
And with fear and trembling stand;
Ponder nothing earthly minded,
For with blessing in His hand,
Christ our God to earth descendeth,
Our full homage to demand.

King of kings, yet born of Mary,
As of old on earth He stood,
Lord of lords, in human vesture,
In the body and the blood;
He will give to all the faithful
His own self for heavenly food.

Rank on rank the host of heaven
Spreads its vanguard on the way,
As the Light of light descendeth
From the realms of endless day,
That the powers of hell may vanish
As the darkness clears away.

At His feet the six winged seraph,
Cherubim with sleepless eye,
Veil their faces to the presence,
As with ceaseless voice they cry:
Alleluia, Alleluia
Alleluia, Lord Most High!

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"I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble."-Helen Keller

About Beck

I'm a lawyer who recently returned to work (part-time) after staying at home with my kids for the past five and a half years. I am married to an awesome, hardworking man who also happens to be a lawyer. Fortunately, we rarely argue. However, we also have three little litigators in training, and they do argue on a regular basis.

Our oldest is Joshua. He is seven, is an excellent artist and athlete, and wants to be a paleontologist and a rock star when he grows up. Also, he wants to discover a treasure like the guy in National Treasure. Don't we all? Next is Ethan who's five. He is a perfectionist who loves puzzles, games, playing soccer, and giving his mom hugs. He says he wants to be a baseball player when he grows up, though he has never actually played baseball as of yet. Last we have Lauren who is four. She loves to talk and sing and talk and play with her dolls and talk. She plans to be a ballerina or a driver when she grows up, which she says will be when she's 100. For the record, she has never driven.